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New Indian Express
10 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Tasmac scam: Madras HC questions ED's powers to seal premises of bizmen
CHENNAI: Questioning the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to seal the premises of film producer Akash Baskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran in connection with the alleged Tasmac scam, the Madras High Court has granted a day's time to the agency to produce the materials, based on which it has proceeded against them, in the court. A division bench of Justices M S Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan pilloried the central agency over the legality to seal the premises owned by the two persons only because they were not available when it went for a search. The questions were raised while hearing the petitions filed by Ravindran challenging the ED's action. 'Your people often say the money laundering act (PMLA) is evolving but we find the authorities are evolving by expanding the scope (of powers),' the bench commented. The ED's counsel explained that premises were not sealed but notices were pasted to the effect that the premises 'shall not be opened', besides asking them to contact the agency. The counsel said that the agency wanted to search the premises and since no one was available, they had to paste the notices. Stating that the agency has not even treated them as accused in the money laundering proceedings, the counsel said it has to search the premises based on credible information and independent materials. He also filed a sealed cover to the bench wondered why should the petitioners cooperate with the agency when they are not an accused in the laundering proceedings? The bench likened the action of the ED to a particular method used by the police, which, the bench said, would arrest the brother of an accused if the latter is not available.
India.com
21-05-2025
- Business
- India.com
Liquor Scam: Enforcement Directorate searches TASMAC offices, Tamil Nadu govt approaches Supreme Court
DMK vs Centre: Stalin govt replaces Rupee symbol in budget logo with Tamil letter, draws BJP's ire New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided at least 10 locations, including the residence of state-run liquor retailer Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) Managing Director S Visakan, film producer Akash Baskaran, SNJ Distilleries, and government contractors in connection with the alleged Rs 1,000 crore liquor scam. It is important to note that the development comes a week after the Madras High Court told the ED to continue with its investigation into the scam under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court also dismissed a petition by TASMAC and the DMK dispensation seeking to declare the raids as 'illegal.' According to the reports, the ED officers recovered printouts of WhatsApp chats near IAS officer Visakan residence, containing details related to TASMAC's liquor procurement. According to the officials, the raids are in continuation with the searches by ED at TASMAC headquarters in the first and second week of March. They further added that the probe is now focused on the money generation avenues of the state-run liquor. Besides Visakan, Akash Baskaran, producer at Dawn Pictures and linked to the DMK's first family, was also searched by the ED. Tamil Nadu Government Moves Supreme Court The Tamil Nadu government has gone to the Supreme Court against the order of the Madras High Court that gave a free hand to the agency in the probe. 'The matter will be taken up for hearing in two or three days,' a senior Supreme Court registry official told TNIE. The state has filed its appeal against the April 23 order of Justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar of the Madras HC, dismissing the petitions filed by the state government and Tasmac against the raids conducted from April 6 to 8 at multiple places, including Tasmac headquarters.
